Kilo 10, Time To Move On
It's time now, 8 weeks on, to move on to slightly more dedicated activity. It may help at this point to purchase a smaller sized plate from which to eat. This way, the size of the serving is not so psychologically obvious. If you'd rather stay with the original plate to see where you've come from, this is okay too.
The time has arrived to take yet another serving spoon off our plates. This will be the final one, as we want to make sure we're getting enough food as adults, to upkeep a healthy, active body. The only way we could venture into actually removing any more food after this, is if our servings were giant sized to begin with. I'll leave this up to you. Just keep in mind that we're not on a diet and do not want to starve ourselves. Our aim is not to become skinny, but to achieve a healthy ideal weight (h.i.t) for our individual body. This means eating a healthy amount too. After all, we love food and hate exercise.
Nowadays, we do not require that much help in terms of the fruit and nuts we eat just before the meal. But we should still have at least one fruit and a glass of pure fruit juice or water just before we eat. Just to make sure that we're not starting on empty.
Stay with the healthy snacks as well, and drink plenty of water. By now the fizzy drinks should be mostly or totally gone from our bodies and desserts have been significantly cut down. Over the next three weeks, we will reduce our dessert intake to just one or two a week and no more. Fruit and fruit smoothies will take that "sweet" place. Try putting a spoonful of honey over fruit and feel them light up in your mouth. This is the perfect dessert- healthy and sweet. Never mind the non-fat, genetically modified, preservative rubbish on the market, go to the local fruit monger, get some fresh fruit, serve up with natural honey, and live large. When the need for a dessert after each meal asserts itself, think of the mighty and gorgeous Angelina Jolie or the iron buffed Brad Pitt, would you say that they have a dessert after dinner each night?
At this stage, when there is a danger of levelling out, it is important to step up a bit with the physical activities. Instead of parking five minutes away, do ten, now that our bodies have built up a likeness for a little walking. Instead of doing twenty minutes walking dropping off and picking up the kids, we'll now be doing forty, (this will give them a healthy twenty minutes of walking to and from the car. We of course will be going back and forth twice in one day which gives us twice as much). If we have to use a lift, even in the mall, we'll now take the stairs to three or four floors (instead of the former two or three). In place of two laps of swimming, we would now do three. Maybe even consider joining a mother's group at the local church hall, doing aerobics or Pilates. Though joining up a group isn't necessary, it may be helpful.
All the exercise we need could come from walking, running and actively getting about our daily routine. But if we think that working in a group would serve us positively, now may be the time to do so. Gym work-outs are not necessary in the least, as good cardiovascular, energetic exercise can be done just as well and better even, (certainly cheaper) outside of a gym. If group work isn't your thing, there are hundreds of exercise tapes on the market (and they're less expensive than membership fees) just buy yourself one and do them on your own. Just make sure that if they involve anything different to what you're accustomed to, you'll need to see your doctor before starting. It is a bad idea to jump into anything strenuous without first seeking medical advise.
Pilates and Yoga tapes can help with relaxation and meditation. While general aerobics, dancing, walking running etc are more geared towards helps with cardiovascular health, and losing weight. All different kinds of exercises, including ones that relax us, those that make our heart race, and those that require us to exert energy, are necessary for overall health and maintaining a healthy constant weight.
Never forget, that like an alcoholic, we'll always be affected by the over indulgences of our past. Like them, we'll always be people prone to succumbing to the temptation of filling up when our stomach's dial is saying it's satiated. Know this and be sensible about staying on the right track. At heart we can choose to remain fatties, or we could decide to throw that all behind us, unshackle our minds, and embrace our new bodies and the new person that we've become.
See related chapters in this series for a more comprehensive programme.
